3,822 Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Purchased by FourThought Financial Partners LLC

FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,822 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,162,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in MSCI by 348.7% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in MSCI by 14.6% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,608,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 9.4% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,400 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in MSCI by 39.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 61,930 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,775,000 after purchasing an additional 17,400 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 8,475 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America raised MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $569.53.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $467.04. The company had a trading volume of 826,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 922,270. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $534.39 and a 200-day moving average of $536.42.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.